Top 7 Singapore FinTech announcements that transpired in early October

By Edil Corneille

Singapore is one of the most active regions of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for FinTech ecosystems with partnerships and announcements being made on a frequent basis. ASEAN shows huge promise for the FinTech industry as large parts of the market remain untapped. Singapore’s FinTech sector witnesses Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms being used generally in the lending and asset management services. The applications of blockchain are also being widely used and explored in this sector.

The fast penetration of mobile phones and internet has paved the way for consumers to avail FinTech facilities. There is a high investment in FinTech infrastructure being witnessed, along with the acceptance of new-age technology by consumers and businesses alike. The central bank of the country – Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched a S$125 million package in April for FinTechs and financial institutions to strengthen the sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2019, the investment in Singapore FinTech reached USD 735 million.

Below is the list consisting of the top 7 FinTech announcements by companies and institutions that were made in early October, this month.

Wallex and Currencycloud

Wallex, a B2B FX and payments solutions provider in Asia, has expanded its partnership with London-based Currencycloud, a provider of B2B embedded cross-border solutions. The collaboration entails the delivery of a new range of collections services, using Currencycloud Spark, for Wallex’s Asian customers in Singapore. The partnership will provide the ability for Wallex’s Singapore and Hong Kong customers to collect funds in USD, GBP and Euro via local payment channels. This will enable those customers to expand and be more competitive.

By integrating Currencycloud Spark, Wallex customers will be able to hold these 3 currencies, and 11 others, simultaneously in a single account. Customers receive the funds within minutes and can choose to hold, convert, withdraw or make international payments when the time and rates suit them. As a result, Wallex’s customers will save both time and money, while adding a level of convenience that will make cross-border payments easier.

Validus Capital

Southeast Asia’s SME lending platform Validus Capital (Validus) is said to be Singapore’s first FinTech to be approved as a Participating Financial Institution (PFI) under Enterprise Singapore’s Enterprise Financing Scheme. Founded in 2015, Validus has disbursed over S$550 million in SME loans and has helped boost lending.

Under the Enterprise Financing Scheme, Validus will provide working capital solutions to SMEs. The government-assisted financing and risk-sharing schemes are part of the Singapore government’s initiatives to help support the needs of local businesses, especially during the pandemic. These schemes offer up to 90% risk-sharing when financing is given to SMEs by the participating financial institutions.

The company has mentioned that Validus Vietnam and Batumbu (Validus’ Indonesian arm) have shown 500 percent growth in the last four months, with close to zero default rates due to its data analytics and collaborative models. The company mentioned that Siam Validus (Validus’ Thailand arm) is due to launch early next year as a joint venture with one of Thailand’s largest conglomerates who themselves have an SME ecosystem transaction volume of over US$5 billion annually.

Revolut Singapore and SNACK by Income

The announcement by these 2 parties entails the incorporation of lifestyle-based insurance offerings on Revolut’s app. This is expected to provide more flexibility and boost customer empowerment in money management.

A key aspect of the collaboration will be to explore embedding SNACK into Revolut’s Spare Change Round Up feature from the Savings Vault which will give customers the option to purchase insurance coverage on SNACK. Through bite-sized premiums of $0.30, $0.50 and $0.70, linked to daily lifestyle activities such as dining, taking public transport, spending using their Revolut Visa debit card as well as clocking steps on Fitbit, Revolut customers will have the full flexibility to purchase insurance products such as Term Life, Critical Illness and Personal Accident, from the accumulated spare change in their Savings Vault on the Revolut app.

Launched under 1 year ago in Singapore, Revolut has reached over 70,000 signups in Singapore. Revolut has been expanding its footprint this year with launches in the US, Australia and Japan. In the coming weeks, Revolut will be introducing fast and free top-ups using bank accounts and Revolut Junior – a prepaid debit card for children aged 7-17 to teach them to better manage money digitally.

SWIFT and IMDA

Belgium’s SWIFT and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to accelerate trade digitalisation globally. The MOI looks at offering SWIFT’s community of more than 11,000 financial institutions and corporates in over 200 countries and territories more efficient and cost-effective cross-border paperless trade, without the need for multiple bilateral linkages and siloed systems.

Both parties will work to combine TradeTrust, an interoperability framework that connects various platforms for the exchange of digital trade documentation, with the SWIFT community. TradeTrust provides proof of authenticity of documents and offers title transfer through open-source software. This functions alongside legal harmonisation to recognise these digital documents. When paired with SWIFT’s ability to securely transport industry standardised electronic trade messaging, scanned hardcopy documentation and digitally signed assets, this will pave the way for the seamless exchange of electronic trade documents around the world.

Razer FinTech and Visa

Razer FinTech, the financial technology arm of Razer, has collaborated with digital payments company Visa, to unveil a brand-new Visa prepaid solution – the Razer Card. Users can sign up and use the virtual card at no subscription, with the option to upgrade to a Standard or Premium physical card. All card users will enjoy year-long cashback features with no capped limit, a gamified rewards system in-app, and can make payments at over 61 million merchant locations globally where Visa is accepted.

This integrated prepaid payment solution is aligned with Razer FinTech’s ambition to establish the world’s first global youth bank — one it has outlined in its application for the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) Digital Full Bank License in Singapore.

Following the launch in Singapore, and leveraging Visa’s reach in the region, the Razer Card will be made available in other countries globally where Razer Pay is available, subject to local regulatory approvals. All versions of the Razer Card will be made available to users in Singapore from January 2021 before expanding globally.

Liquid Group and PayME

Liquid Group, a regional mobile payment services company, will partner with PayME as its merchant acquirer in Vietnam. Through this partnership, customers of Liquid Group and its issuer partners will be able to use their preferred payment apps and e-wallets for their local and overseas QR payment transactions with merchants from PayME’s network in Vietnam, starting with cities like Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi, Danang, Nha Trang.

With the development of mobile payments and e-commerce in Vietnam, PayME merchants will be able to accept cross-border merchant and consumer-present QR code payment transactions, as well as online QR payments for merchants with e-commerce presence using Liquid Group’s XNAP Network.

Xfers

Xfers, a Major Payment Institution (MPI) licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for e-money issuance, announced the public release of XSGD, a Travel Rule compliant stablecoin, backed 1:1 with the Singapore Dollar (SGD), as part of its StraitsX initiative. Anyone with a supported bank account in Singapore can now convert SGD into XSGD tokens and vice versa at a 1:1 rate on the Xfers platform.

Under its MPI license for e-money issuance activity, Xfers can mint unlimited amounts of XSGD tokens while the corresponding fiat is safeguarded in segregated accounts with a fully regulated MAS-approved bank. Each XSGD token is fully backed one-for-one by the Singapore Dollar (SGD) and represents one SGD.

The XSGD token is built on both Ethereum’s protocol as an ERC-20 token and Zilliqa’s protocol as a ZRC-2 token to fill financial gaps. Because of its redeemability for the Singapore Dollar, XSGD tokens represent a liquid, digital alternative to cash that is available 24/7 for near-instantaneous transactions and that can be easily held in any Ethereum or Zilliqa compatible wallet.